TurboTax

Tonight I did my taxes. Not the most exciting activity, but one that is required by law nonetheless. And I figured that the only real way to put off studying was to be doing something productive instead. So I did my taxes.

Two years ago I took my taxes to a tax service to have them done. Seemed like a great idea - quick couple of questions and then it was done. Although apparently it was a little too quick, since a few weeks later I got a letter from the IRS informing me of a rather expensive error made by the preparer. So then I had to pay a boat load of money. Which was less than fun, as you can imagine.

Last year I thought that I would get smart and do my own taxes. So TurboTax became my friend, and I buzzed right through things, no problem.

This year I returned to the reliable TurboTax method (yay!) and once again was buzzing right through. Until I was ready to pay my Kansas state taxes (which I always have to do) and I realized that the amount due was less than 1/10th of what I had paid last year. This concerned me a great deal, thinking that I was shorting the state on money (or so we will all pretend, since it makes me sound like such a fine and upstanding citizen), so I redid my taxes for the state, and came up with the same low number.

I was still quite puzzled over the whole thing, so I decided it best to break out the info from last year, just to have a quick peek. It's a good thing that I have no aspirations of being an accountant, because that's when I found the mistake...on last year's return, and for $2300 in FAVOR OF THE STATE! Now, if there is anything worse than having to pay a lot in taxes once spring rolls around, it's doing it and finding out a year later that you really didn't have to. Now that is really awesome.

Luckily I have the trusty internet (what did people do before that was so readily available?!) and I found the forms I needed to attempt to fix this rather large problem. Would you believe that it was as easy as checking a few boxes and tossing the form in the mail? I'm not sure that I believe it either, but I'll be crossing my fingers that it is and that it results in a refund check for me!

Moral of the story? I love TurboTax. And the other moral of the story? I should never become an accountant.